One of the hot new diet drug in the news is the French drug called “Accomplia Rimonabant.” It was created to help people quit smoking and lose fat by blocking circuitry in the brain that gives the body cravings. The diet drug, rimonabant accomplia, which could be available in a year or two, is an appetite suppressant, but works by an entirely new approach by blocking the same primeval circuitry in the brain that gives pot-smokers the munchies. The French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo plans to seek U.S. approval to sell it under the brand “Accomplia” after more studies are finished next year. A study found that the drug helped people drop 20 pounds in a year, while the other concluded it increased smokers’ success at quitting, at least in the short-term. The drug will be marketed both for dieting and smoking cessation.
Doctors say the drug is noteworthy because it takes a different approach to helping people overcome their cravings for food and tobacco. It is the first of a class of medicines that blocks the so-called endocannabinoid system in the central nervous system.
Marijuana makes people hungry by stimulating this circuitry. The same biology serves crucial everyday purposes by helping the brain regulate hunger, including alcohol craving. Overeating and smoking can overstimulate this system, which in turn causes people to eat and smoke more. By temporarily blocking the body’s ability to receive these signals, experts believe they can return the system to normal.
In the larger of the two studies, Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Laval University in Quebec City used 1,036 volunteers, all with stomachs that put them at high risk for heart problems. They were urged to cut 600 calories/day and given either accomplia or placebos.
After a year, those who got the higher of two doses of accomplia had lost an average of 20 pounds and trimmed three inches from their waists. Nearly half of them took off 10 percent of their body weight. By comparison, those on placebos lost just five pounds. Those receiving accomplia improved in other ways, as well: their levels of good cholesterol rose 23 percent, while their triglycerides fell 15 percent.
Commentary: This seems to be another expensive diet drug with unknown long-term side-effects. In their own study, they showed a 20 pound weight loss over a year versus 5 pounds on the placebo. Only fifteen pounds difference? This is hardly the miracle diet pill we’ve all been looking for. Realize those who lose weight and keep it off almost always follow the same strategy: balanced nutrition with portion control, daily exercise and especially important, they find a long-term motivation to change their lifestyle.
